If you want to get your hands on the very first Xbox-certified gaming handheld, save October 16 to your calendars – Microsoft has confirmed its collaboration with ASUS, the ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X, will first launch in some parts of the world, and good news: Malaysia is among them.
ROG Xbox Ally Availability Announced
Microsoft lists these regions with access to the new handheld at launch: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, China (Xbox Ally X only, Xbox Ally to follow “early next year”), Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States and Vietnam. For the remaining regions already with regular ROG Ally lineup available for sale – such as Brazil, India, Indonesia and Thailand – availability will follow shortly after the first wave of launch.
To recap, the ROG Xbox Ally series have some unique features to better complement Microsoft’s gaming services, on top of the redesigned handle said to improve ergonomics. These include a special version of Windows 11 designed with Xbox interface and performance optimizations, a dedicated Xbox button, AMD Ryzen Z2 series processors, along with the ability to play games locally, over the cloud, or through Remote Play via host Xbox console.
Besides the handhelds themselves, Microsoft is also introducing the Handheld Compatibility Program, which is essentially Microsoft’s version of “Deck Verified” meant for Steam Deck. This will be split into two (functional) categories: “Handheld Optimized” and “Mostly Compatible”, which is then coupled with Windows Performance Fit badges that indicate the game’s performance on the handheld.
There’s more to come, says Microsoft, as it also introduced features like Advanced Shader Delivery that allows new games to preload faster, and the ROG Xbox Ally handhelds will also get “enhancements to the docking experience”, designed for gaming on big screens; some of the features it mentioned includes Auto SR upscaler, intuitive controller pairing, optimized display output, and more.
While Microsoft has already provided the launch date, the pricing details are still being kept under wraps – for now. The company says pricing and pre-order information for the ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X will be available “in the coming weeks.”
Pokdepinion: Looking forward to it!
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